‘Geostorm’ Trailer: Gerard Butler Literally Had to Fly in From Outer Space

If you’re going through Roland Emmerich withdrawals, or perhaps you’ve always wanted to know what Armageddon would be like if it wasn’t as good, then may I present to you the latest trailer for — wait for it — Geostorm. Yes, that’s the actual title. Really. No, it’s not a fake movie, but you’d be forgiven for thinking as much after sitting through two and a half totally bonkers minutes of footage.

Playing the role of “brilliant, quippy middle-aged man tasked with saving the entire world” this time out is…Gerard Butler. We’re not even two paragraphs into this post, but it’s about to get even more ridiculous. Strap in, folks: Geostorm’s convoluted plot takes place in a near-future in which world leaders have come together to battle climate change (is this…a comedy?) using a complex network of satellites which eventually go haywire and start throwing all sorts of climate-based catastrophes at our planet.

Independence Day producer Dean Devlin (there it is) made his directorial debut on Geostorm, which went into production way back in 2014, but after negative reactions to early test screenings in 2015, Warner Bros. ordered reshoots under the supervision of producer / director Jerry Bruckheimer. The end result is what you see in the trailer above. Alternate taglines for Geostorm include: “Bruce Willis was weirdly busy.” “Hey, remember Jim Sturgess?” “I literally had to fly in from outer space.” And “(*Actual title.)”

Geostorm also stars Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris and Andy Garcia (hopefully playing the same role from Passengers), and is ridiculously described, at great length, as follows:

After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world’s leaders came together to create an intricate network of satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong—the system built to protect the Earth is attacking it, and it’s a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything...and everyone along with it.

Butler stars as Jake, a scientist who, along with his brother, Max, played by Sturgess, is tasked with solving the satellite program’s malfunction. Cornish stars as Secret Service agent Sarah Wilson; Lara as Ute Fassbinder, the ISS astronaut who runs the space station; Wu as Cheng, the Hong Kong-based supervisor for the Dutch Boy Program; with Garcia as U.S. President Andrew Palma; and Harris as Secretary of State Leonard Dekkom.